The Consul
'The Consul '''is the former governor of Hyperion, and one of the seven pilgrims on the final Shrike pilgrimage. Early life The Consul was born on Maui-Covenant, approximately nine local years prior to the destruction of that planet's first orbital farcaster by his grandfather, the famed Mauian revolutionary Merin Aspic. He is the youngest child of Maui-Covenant's first Home Rule Councilor Donel Aspic. The legendary Mauian Siri was his grandmother. At age 15, the Consul watched the Hegemony siege of Maui-Covenant from his family's ancestral isle, beginning his sympathy for the revolutionaries and aggression against the Hegemony.''Hyperion, 1995. 463. The Consul was old enough to join the Mauian rebellion at age 20, but did not at Merin's insistance. The Consul finished school on Tau Ceti Center while his father was a Senator for the Hegemony.Hyperion, 1995. 464, Return to Maui-Covenant The Consul's first job after school was as a government liaison to corporations engaged in the development of oil drilling infrastructure based in the Central Administration Isle on Maui-Covenant. The Consul met his wife, Gresha, in this position, and studied to join the diplomatic corps. He scored "First" on his diplomatic corps exams, and requested a position outside the Web.Hyperion, 1995. 464. Early Diplomatic Positions The Consul was an Under Consul within five standard years and a Consul in his own right in eight. His primary role in his early consulships was to assist the colonists in advance of one day joining the Protectorate. From the Consul's perspective, he was really just helping the colonists destroy truly indigenous life on their planets - an apparent prerequisite to joining the Protectorate. The planets on which the Consul held the title Under Consul included Whirl, Garden, and Hebron. Following the completion of his assignment on Hebron, the Consul suffered a career crisis, breakdown, and addiction to alcohol and the drug Flashback. The Consul's career survived his post-Hebron crisis, and upon recovery he moved his family to Bressia for a position as full Consul. While Consul on Bressia, the Hegemony made plans to use Bressia as a test of Ouster military might. The Battle of Bressia ensued. Due to a slight miscalculation, the Consul remained on Bressia during the Ouster invasion. His wife, Gresha, and son Alon were killed in the subsequent fighting.Hyperion, 1995. 466. Liaison to the Ousters Following Bressia, the Consul volunteered to be the Hegemony diplomat in charge of direct negotiations with the Ousters. The Hegemony was planning to provoke the Ousters into attacking the Hegemony at Hyperion, both to eradicate the Ousters as a potential menace and to bring Hyperion into the Web, which allegedly would alter the political relationship between the Hegemony and the TechnoCore in the Hegemony's favor. The Hegemony provided the Consul a private spaceship with an antique Steinway piano, in which he traveled for months alone until he was seized by the Ousters, according to plan. The Consul, still politically aligned against the Hegemony all these years after Siri's Rebellion on Maui-Covenant, became a double-agent, informing the Ousters of the Hegemony's plans for their extinction. The Ousters reciprocated with evidence that the death of Old Earth had been deliberately planned by elements of the TechnoCore and the fledgling government of the Hegemony.Hyperion, 1995. 468-469. Hyperion Consulship The Consul returned to the Web, informing CEO Gladstone that the Ousters knew that any battle at Hyperion would be a trap, but were coming anyway, and that they asked him to be a double agent - in some ways truthful and in some ways deceptive. The Consul declined Gladstone's offers both to raise Hyperion to Protectorate status and to promote him to Ambassador, but he did travel to Hyperion for a position as consul.Hyperion, 1995. 469. The Consul was consul on Hyperion for eleven years. During this time twelve pilgrimages were permitted to the Time Tombs; none returned.Hyperion, 1995. Prologue, pg. 7. He mostly allowed his aide to govern Hyperion while he waited for the Ousters, generally while drinking at Cicero's. The Opening of the Time Tombs When the Ousters were ready, they contacted the Consul, who took leave from his position to rendezvous with the Ousters in the Oort Cloud of the Hyperion system and bring an ouster agent and three technicians to the Time Tombs north of the Bridle Range. While the technicians worked, the Consul learned that there was some debate among the Ousters as to whether the planned invasion of the Web is necessary, and the best way to accomplish it. Rather than wait for these debates to work themselves out, the Consul kills the team of ousters in his company and activates the device himself, ahead of the ousters' plan. The Consul tells the Ousters that the premature activation of the device and the loss of the ouster team had been an accident caused by the Shrike; he tells Gladstone that his mission was successful, but that he now needs solitude. He travels toward a nearby world uninhabited by humans and waits.Hyperion, 1995. 471. Three weeks after detecting the opening of the time tombs, CEO Gladstone calls the Consul to request that he return to Hyperion for the Final Shrike Pilgrimage. Three weeks after that, the Consul rendezvoused with the treeship Yggdrasill for the voyage back to Hyperion.Hyperion, 1995. 3. Death The Consul was killed approximately 74 years after The Fall, at the hands of Rhadamanth Nemes on a world only identified as one having propeller-driven aircraft. Endymion, 1996. Chapter 55. References Category:Humans Category:Seven Pilgrims Category:Characters Category:Endymion Characters Category:Hyperion Characters